Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Week 3

Right now I am sitting and resting in the home of Bill, a pastor from Valley Presbyterian Church in Mesquite, Nevada. I will pass into Arizona tonight. His kindness was a huge help and he gave me a place to rest, shower and have some great food. It was definitely fate that this, the first Presbyterian Church I have gone to (my home church is Presbyterian as well) is right next door to a dialysis and nephrology (kidney doctor) center The days are beginning to blend together so I am looking through my journal to recollect my thoughts and experiences.
I had such a great time in Vegas exploring and resting up. My good friends Charlit and Melanie showed me around the city including walking up and down the strip and also seeing the Freemont street area. It was nice to have some home cooked meals for once and Melanie's meal was definitely the best thing I've had so far having some leftovers for the road. Both of their families were far beyond kind to me. Charlit's family including his parents Suzy and Charlie and brother Shane were extremely kind and wanted to help me in any way possible. His parents treated me like a son, showing great concern for everything of myself and Charlie said I had a great heart which moved me a lot.I had met Melanie's parents at graduation and to see her dad again was awesome and also an extremely kind-hearted individual. I felt extremely sad leaving Vegas because of how positive an experience it was and I definitely want to go back.
I also watched the Pacquiao fight which he was clearly the better fighter and I hope that he comes through with the win now that it's under investigation but I extremely admired his attitude postfight, that he did not get angry or upset, was extremely humble about it and that though he felt he won he did not get angry with the judges or anyone. It showed a mark of great character.
I also had dinner with my friend Mike, whom I met by Victorville at an awesome all-you-can eat buffet called Sweet Tomatoes. Great food with salad, bread, mac and cheese and I definitely got my fill. I had an awesome time talking to him and his family. He has found a source of goodness which I hope he will continue where he gives socks to the homeless and also a radio. Homeless individuals often do not wear socks because the sweat breaks down the elasticity and causes them to hurt the feet. I believe he said weekly he gives them and allows them to have more comfort. He also gave a windup radio to another individual and it was amazing the transformation it had on the individual. Before this person didn't know the weather so he would get poured on, didn't know the day of the week, and thus felt extremely isolated. However, with the radio it allowed him to feel more connected to the world, and I could just tell the sense of gratitude this individual had towards Mike created positive growth in both of them.
This blog will probably become more of my interactions with people as that has been the most valuable piece so far and I think also the most interesting for people to read. Over the last few days I slept by the Moapa Plaza and Casino where I met some other amazing individuals as well as in Moapa Town, where upon leaving I met a woman who mentioned her wish for me with this was just to not be too forceful (which I do not plan on doing at all) because previously people had been so to her daughter about organ donation and she said due to medical reasons her daughter is unable to be an organ donor and I promised her I would listen to that.
I have also learned a lot more about love, and that the purest form of it is the love a parent has for a child. Spending time with people over the past few weeks I have seen this a lot. A child until they reach a certain stage of development, usually in adulthood, due to their naivety and immaturity are incapable of understanding how deep this love goes. I am only now beginning to see it with my own parents whom I have called every day so far. This love transcends all and can be found everywhere where there are parents and children. Made me think a lot more about loving all people and not desiring any sort of karma against them, because somewhere they have parents who would be devastated by anything poor happening to their son or daughter.